Leadership Lesson:
Leaders don’t work alone.
If all of your thought, effort and energy (the sun total of your work) are all done apart from those you lead, you will never be a truly effective leader. Leaders have to work with those around them. In fact, they need to work closely with those other people around them—this is called community.
“Legions and fleets are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family”
-Tacitus
Isolation, when a leader works alone, weakens community.
The strongest organizations have the strongest culture. Culture is transmitted, stewarded and reinforced in the context of community. Culture is the sum of the values, standards and beliefs that are held collectively and are part of the heritage of the group. Each new team member we bring on board is being brought into our community. Each new customer that walks through our doors is coming into our community. Every community needs leaders who are accessible, present and available.
Avoidance, when a leader draws away, weakens accountability.
Every strong culture and strong community has an element of strong accountability. Accountability is where we hold one another answerable for actions, consequences and responsibilities. Accountability is where a community becomes a family. The strongest communities are made of the strongest families.
Family is where community and accountability meet care.
Leaders who don’t work closely with their people, their teams and their followers have a much more difficulty time demonstrating that they care. Part of showing you care is being there. Thankfully, there are more ways than ever to connect these days, abut leaders must never forget that there is no substitute for their presence.
Leaders must engage, encourage and enlist others on each step of the journey for a work that is beyond what any one single member, including leaders, can accomplish.
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many”
– 1 Corinthians 12:14
(c) Alex Vann